A MariAri School Story
by UnendingEmpire
Summary: Welcome to Tohohana High, where students of all sorts attend, learn, and all that other school stuff I don't remember so well. In this particular fic, senior year is just starting for the class of 20XX (laziness) and two students who've been sharing classes for ten years finally have an excuse, even if a somewhat crappy one, to get to know each other a little better.
1. Chapter 1

**Another Tohohana fic :\**

**I honestly tried doing one that took place in Gensokyo (was experimenting with crack-pairings of Mima/Rumia, Mima/Ruukoto, and was pondering upon a crack-pairing of Orin/Yamame) but couldn't get it to work for some reason. I guess I've found my little niche in the Touhou fanon, then. Writing a small-city AU where you never know what'll happen next :D**

**The next "School Story" was actually going to be ParuYuugi, but I started this and had a first chapter in about thirty minutes, so I was like "Okay, MariAri is next" in the end ^_^;**

**I still have to finish the KogaNue one, though. As much as I love casually throwing natural disasters around, it seems I have difficulty writing about them when they're actually important to the plot. Which is really odd. Maybe it's my years-long depression?  
Depression is, as my blissfully oblivious personality may imply, not always an emotional thing. Indeed, a long state of inactivity (see: NEET for 2-3 years straight) can lead to a dulling of the psyche and the mind, and among other things, can cause poor concentration, lack of energy, and inability to sleep. I have a remedy for the last of those, but all three of these things I suffer from. Therefore, despite being so blissful at all hours, I'm actually depressed.**

**Ah, but the all-too-mainstream pairing is probably what brought you here, yes? Not lil' ole' me ^_^;**

**Read away, dear readers~**

* * *

Tohohana, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The new school year was starting, and all the students were getting themselves used to their new classes. At the request (read: demand) of Class 12-A's teacher, Miss Keine Kamishirisawa - who had asked that her students call her Miss K if her last name was too hard to pronounce - each student was going to take a bit of time to introduce themselves to the class. So many interesting people had stepped up so far. One student - sitting as far as possible from the teacher's desk - made sure to pay as much attention as possible. Not because she wanted to be their friend, but because her crimelord of an adoptive mother had given her that advice just yesterday.

* * *

_"School starts tomorrow, does it?" Looking to her illegitimate adoptive daughter, the city's most powerful yet least serious crimelord said "Make sure to learn all you can. You never know when those people might come in handy, and it's good to know about your pawns in any game."_

_ "Understood."_

* * *

"And now it's your turn," Keine said, pointing right to that very student. She had blonde hair, mostly cut short but with one long braided lock going down the left side of her face. Some of the students here she'd known forever, and others she'd been around forever. There were new faces, though, and those were the ones she was especially careful to observe. Getting up to her feet, that child of a crimelord - Marisa Kirisame - made her way to the front of the classroom.

The usual facts, her mother figure - Mima - had advised her to share. Her name and area of residence. Don't reveal the identity of her unofficial adoptive mother, as that may lead to special attention she didn't want, and make sure people had a reason to rely on her, even if it was only one time each. "My name is Marisa Kirisame," she started, doing her best to seem cheerful and upbeat. It wasn't that hard, since staying upbeat was part of her nature. "I think some of you already know me, so that's good. I live in the trailer park on the southern end of town with my foster mother. If you ever need anything - anything at all - I either have it, or can dig it up in a day." That wasn't just extended to simple things, either. Nor was it extended only to things that were okay to own. Maybe the girl two seats over from one of Marisa's old friends wanted to buy a movie before it was released on DVD? If the bootleg existed, Marisa could get it. Did the kid three seats in front of Marisa's seat have trouble finding some kind of illegal substance? As the definite heir to Mima's crime empire, there was nothing Marisa couldn't obtain.

"I hope you don't plan on starting trouble," Keine warned as Marisa made her way back to her seat. Before today, Keine didn't know her face, but her favorite student - Fujiwara no Mokou, who was lucky enough to get this very class - had once shared stories with Keine about a Marisa Kirisame. The foster daughter of a crimelord who was taken in after two weeks of being disowned and homeless, which had been brought on when Marisa set fire to and demolished the home of a family of five that was involved in a car crash that killed Marisa's birth mother; a lifetime friend of Mima herself. A great dealer in whatever drugs she could get her hands on, and a master thief. Keine's eyes would be on this student, among other troublemakers. Pointing to the student who sat next to Marisa, she said "Alright. Your turn."

_I don't want to do this…_ Even so, the last student who said no to Keine almost had their skull split open in a headbutt that was deemed humanly impossible. Because of that, she'd go through with it. She knew exactly who Marisa was, but she wouldn't be surprised if Marisa had no clue who she was. They'd been in the same classes since second grade, and by coincidences she still had trouble accepting, were _always_ placed in the seats next to each other. Generally, though, she kept quiet about herself. She didn't like what happened when people knew exactly who she was. When that girl stood at the front of the classroom, and all eyes were on her, she said "My name is Alice Margatroid. My mother and I aren't actually from Japan, but please, treat me as you would any other person." Margatroid. The last name of Shinki's adoptive child.

The last name of a modern princess if ever there was one. Nobody in Tohohana was sure where Shinki and her family came from, but because of Shinki's wealth and charisma, many people stuck to the theory that she was a foreign queen, or perhaps a runaway princess. Out of nowhere, Shinki arrived in Tohohana eleven years ago, with Alice and the family's maid - Yumeko - in tow. And once people knew exactly who Alice was…

"Treat me normally, like any other person," Alice repeated. People were always willing to try and play kiss-ass with Alice to score favors from her immense family wealth. People who needed illegal favors always kissed up to Marisa when they realized she was related to Mima. Likewise, people who needed favors within the borders of the law did the same for Alice upon the realization that she was Shinki's child. Alice personally detested it, and as she started making her way back to her desk, she could already hear people whispering among themselves. The bits she could hear were about different ideas of how to get favors from her. She hated this kind of special treatment, and if she had half the chance, would change her name, face, and any other feature she could change, just to start with a blank slate to escape the special treatment. When she sat down, though, she realized something interesting. Marisa, who now looked like a person who knew Alice forever, wasn't even opening her mouth about Alice's family wealth. More than once, Marisa had been around when her secret was revealed, and _Marisa_ of all people seemed like the kind to try hardest to get favors from somebody with that kind of financial power.

As Keine started going over the annual things everybody already knew, Alice leaned very slightly in Marisa's direction. Hoping for an answer similar to "Oh, you're in the same class as me again," Alice whispered to this person next to her, "You out of everybody would know that I'm Shinki's daughter. Why aren't you thinking about getting favors?"

"Don't need 'em," Marisa whispered back. "Even if I did, I wouldn't ask you for it, ze. Mima can do anything legal or not, so your family fortune doesn't mean a thing to me da ze."

"You're a girl. Drop the _ze_."

"No. Been talking this way since I could speak, and I'm not stopping anytime soon, _ZE_."

"Whatever." Bringing her attention back to the teacher just in time for her to go over things that weren't yearly crap everybody already knew perfectly well, Alice started penning in notes. Marisa seemed to have no interest in doing such, but Alice had every intention of leaving her last year of school with the best grades possible. That way, she could get into a good university - the last thing she'd ever ask Shinki to give her money for, she hoped - and get a degree in something that could help her get into a high-income job. Then she'd move someplace where nobody knew who Shinki was - maybe Okinawa - and live life as a normal person. Granted, one with a rich and eccentric mother who was rumored to be a foreign queen once upon a time, but normal regardless. Because that was her dream in life. Not to be a doctor, or an astronaut, or a civil engineer or any of those other careers people dream of because they want to be great. Just to be a normal person, living a normal life. No royalty theories, no maids to cater to her every wish, and above all else, nobody trying to score favors by sucking up to her. Marisa's attitude toward Alice and her family fortune was a pretty nice start, but one person was hardly equal to a full life.

"Oh, I do need _one_ favor," Marisa whispered.

"Dammit."

"It's not a money thing, ze. I didn't bring my notebook today. I just need you to let me copy your notes later."

"Oh. In that case, go crazy…if you can read them, that is." It wasn't that Alice had bad handwriting. Far from it. Just that even though she could read and speak Japanese (since this _is_ in Japan) perfectly well, she always had trouble writing the language for whatever reason. Therefore, she always wrote in the language she grew up with in her younger years when she first learned to read and write. It also helped that it kept people from copying her answers in tests. Of course, teachers always got very mad when Alice proved unable to write Japanese, but rarely graded her scores based on that in fear of getting on Shinki's bad side. She'd been told that Keine was very fluent in at least four languages other than Japanese, so Alice was positive she was fine. She'd just have to explain herself the first time, and all would be well from there on.

Hopefully.

* * *

**About 10 minutes after the end of school; Margatroid Residence…**

"Tell me again why you had to come here," Alice said, stepping into the front doors of her family mansion. It wasn't the biggest one - Shinki had said she didn't want to stand out _too_ much - but it wasn't small by any means. Joining her was Marisa, who had already introduced herself to Shinki and Yumeko, and gotten her things from one of Mima's "co-workers" who dropped them off for her.

"Mima doesn't like having company over unless it's her co-workers. She almost got sent away because of that once, when she trusted this detective who lives down the street, and…it's a pretty ugly story, ze." Harsh words were exchanged that day. "Your folks seem nice, though."

"Quite. Too much so. I've grown up as Shinki's little princess ever since she adopted me when I was tiny," Alice explained, leading the way up two flights of stairs to where her room would be. "Every whim and wish I've ever had was pretty much instantly catered to by Shinki herself or any of the maids from back home, or after we came to Japan, Yumeko. It sounds nice, but I'd really just like to see the world from the perspective of a regular, normal human being. Even if it's just for a day." Alice didn't get her hopes up while she was living with Shinki, though. "So how about you? What's your story?"

"So soon, ze? But we hardly even know each other~"

"Cut the crap. We've been in the same class for ten years, and sat next to each other every time. I'd like to know." That was something Alice noticed, especially in the last couple of years. Marisa was great at getting people to talk about themselves and puzzling out all the traits and details of a person by hanging around them for a couple of days, but whenever the conversation got to the point where she reveal something about herself, she always dodged the question. That made Alice even more curious. "Mima's reputation is hardly subtle."

"Ya got me, ze."

"So 'fess up. Are you a criminal like her?" Opening the door to her room, Alice promised "What happens in this room stays in this room. Shinki and Yumeko have learned my deepest and most embarrassing secrets here, and not once have we spoken of them outside this room. Your secrets are safe with me."

"If I find out you're lying, you'll have Mima to answer to." Making herself comfortable on a comfy-looking seat called Alice's bed, Marisa kicked back as if she owned the bed, and started up her own confession as she opened her notebook. "Yeah, I'm Mima's kid and the heir to her crime empire. My mom and her were tight since they were about our age, and I grew up seeing her as mostly an aunt-like figure. When I was about seven, my parents got into a car wreck, ze. I was with Mima, and my parents crashed into a car with a family of five. Dad lived."

"And…your mother?"

"Not so lucky da ze. So, in my childish grief, I got mad and decided the other family planned to kill my mother in that crash. I got Mima to get their address, and once I had it, I lit their place up like a great big bonfire, da ze. Anybody that lived was shot by Mima herself, and died quick and painfully. That enough exposition for you, ze?"

"Y-Yes…quite." Alice wasn't sure which of three things to be more afraid of. The morbid ending to Marisa's story, the way she talked about it like it was commonplace information off a newspaper's headlines, or Mima who was willing to help _a seven-year-old child_ with her murderous plans. She promised to not share this secret, though, and she didn't want to have to deal with Mima in the event that Marisa's warning was the truth. She had to distract herself from this before she completely lost herself to fear. So Alice did what she was doing in the first place. Flipping open her notebook, Alice said "Have at it, Marisa."

"Will do…huh? The hell kinda language is this, ze?"

"The one from my home country."

"I gathered that da ze. _What language_ is it?"

"German."

* * *

**Das Deutsche.**

**Japanese series (both games and anime, to my experience) tend to link in with German things, especially Madoka - my favorite anime - and the Bount in Bleach. On top of that, "Margatroid" just sounds like a sorta German surname to me, and since Shinki's family name is always up in the air if it even gets mentioned, I decided that Alice would keep hers even after getting adopted.**

**Despite that, Alice's Tohohana counterpart was born in Germany, but her birth family actually moved to Switzerland when she was merely days old. I'd say more about her folks, but I can't. I cannot say that which I do not know~**

**So the next update will probably be KogaNue, but may be me uploading the ParuYuugi fic's first chapter, fast-paced though it may be. The day after tomorrow, I should be getting home internet finally, so there won't be any more of that pesky mucking around in the flash drive and not being sure which parts of my fanfics aren't yet uploaded.**

**With any luck, it will also cure the depression I mentioned up at the top, if only for a short while. Say…**

**Does anybody know of any other ways to cure that kind of depression? And don't say "Stop being a NEET" or my size-12 foot will pop out of your computer screen and become acquainted w/ your ass.**


	2. Chapter 2: A Crimelord's Child

**Gawd, I'll feel stupid if my German was off at the start of this chapter.**

**I think, in the reviews, Timeskipper said this, that my Tohohana works are certainly my finer ones. He said that maybe it's because I'm in my own setting, even though it's a crime-infested hellhole that puts Gotham City to shame, or maybe that they're among my more recent works. In reality, I feel that it's both.**

**On one hand, they're my new ones, so I have more experience as a writer. My own personal style has been developing and I'm at least a little familiar with how I work most of the characters in Touhou. On the other hand, Tohohana is my city; my turf. Therefore, I get to play by my rules instead of ZUN's, so it's easier to know what is and isn't okay.**

**Having said this, I want this fic to kind of alternate between being more about Alice and then Marisa. This is a Marisa chapter, so I want the next one to be more about Alice, since I'd just recently thought of this solution to my common issue of always gravitating toward one character. Mima also gets introduced in this chapter, and people who liked my yakuza OC from the KaguMoko fic are going to LOVE her here! Likewise, those of you who aren't so fond of criminal types (Timeskipper again) are going to hate Mima's guts, and people who are familiar with recent installments of the Pokemon series might see something happening here that says a lot about her. I doubt anybody will see it, though~**

**On an unrelated note, I've noticed something odd that readers of my KogaNue story might have noticed as well. My first story with Tohohana was starring Kaguya and MOKOU. After that was one with Kogasa and NUE. Now, I have one with Alice and MARISA. On top of these three, I can at any time launch one that stars Parsee and YUUGI.**

**For those who don't get it, Tohohana lore states that Nue, Marisa, Mokou, and Yuugi were once part of a crime quartet together, until the latter three started high school one year before Nue. From there, the group eventually dissolved, and the only real criminal left of them is Marisa.**

**Fuck me, this note is long.**

* * *

"German, huh?" That was a bit of a surprise. "How would I tell you I can't speak that, ze?"

"Nein sprecken ze Deutsche."

"I see…ditto, ze." Marisa knew a couple languages beyond Japanese, but was barely good enough to hold illegal conversations with them. Italian and French were her languages, but she didn't know a word of German. "Can I get a translation for these?"

"Only if you don't mind writing by ear. Admittedly, even though I can speak and read Japanese just as well as somebody native to Japan, I have trouble writing it. When all those characters are put up with one another and I have to put them in, it gives me trouble." Indeed, Alice's computer keyboard even was one from Germany. When putting words online with her computer, Alice used a translating website and checked how accurate the translations were. There were a couple of sites in particular she knew were better than others, but when doing a computer assignment at school, the toughest part of the assignment was always having to explain to the teacher that she couldn't write or type Japanese all that well, and that she always translated her work online when she was done.

"I can run with that, ze."

* * *

**Girls are now translating…**

* * *

"That's the last of it."

"Looks like the same-old-same-old," Marisa said, looking upset at her awfully plain notes. "Nothing new at all. Well, Miss K was at least kind enough to detail big things, ze." Events that people usually didn't announce until about a week before the event, causing everybody to panic about it until it finally came, when they realize it wasn't really that big a deal. According to the notes here, seniors were going to have two proms this year. One the night before winter break started, and one on the night that the school year ended. Each one was 5,000 yen to attend, and et cetera. Not that it was important. Just that Keine was kind enough to give the students the nights these would be, rather than just throwing it out there a week before it happened.

"I'm not looking forward to much of this. I've tried going to school events before, but Shinki always wants to go with me and I get celebrity levels of attention when that happens." Everybody would drop what they were doing to try and get favors from Alice while Shinki herself was right there, or would otherwise be sure to stay out of her way in fear of bothering her or getting in the way. By trying to avoid troubling Alice, they were doing exactly that. For eleven years now, she'd been telling people to treat her normally. As though she were just another average person in Tohohana. For eleven years, they didn't, and instead treated her like the princess Shinki made her out to be. Alice hated it. "You're pretty…well, I guess _normal_ isn't the word I want."

"Normal by Tohohana standards, da ze."

"Sure. What's that like?"

"Weren't you normal back in Germany?"

"Not quite Germany, but no." Possibly _born _in Germany, yes. _Raised _there, no. Her earliest memories were actually in Switzerland of all places, when she was a wee little orphan with no Shinki yet. Even then, people didn't really consider her normal. Pointing to a number of items along her windowsill, Alice said "Because I knew what I loved more than anything else in life so early, people thought I was weird." Dolls. Lining her windowsill were just those. At least a dozen dolls of different shapes and sizes, all hand-crafted by Alice with weeks of loving care and careful planning. Being Shinki's child meant that she always had money for more dollmaking supplies, which was nice, but it hardly made up for being denied her dream of normalcy. "The one furthest on the right was one I made in Switzerland; my first doll." A little blonde-haired one in a blue dress with a white apron. There was also a little red ribbon in her hair, and her hands looked like they were made to hold something.

"That's a whole lotta dolls, ze." Picking up the one Alice said she hand-made in Switzerland (why Switzerland?) Marisa took a good look. Perfect quality, if her minimal knowledge of dolls meant anything. No dents or nicks or scars or anything like that. And this was her first? Even if Marisa wasn't big on dolls and such, that was impressive. Alice never said what exactly she loved more than anything else in life, but it was implied enough that Marisa got it. Alice loved dolls, and making them. "If you wanna be normal, why not make these for a living, ze?"

"I'll still be Shinki's daughter as long as I live here."

"Please. I've seen this one at least a hundred times in fiction, ze. Take a big chunk of money and run away da ze!"

"Um, no."

"How about if I go with you?"

"Absolutely not."

"Oh, wow. Is that really the time, ze?" Just how long did translating those notes take? The clock Marisa's eyes fixated on read 6 in the evening. That meant it was about time for her to head home. Pulling out a phone from her pocket, Marisa started pressing a few buttons on the screen, and held it up to her ear. "One of Mima's subordinates," Marisa mouthed, pointing to the phone. "Be quiet."

"Hello?"

"Yeah, it's me, ze."

"Oh, Marisa. Need something?"

"I need a lift back home. I'm out at the Margatroid residence, ze."

"See you in ten."

"Got it. Later, ze."

"That was fast," Alice commented once the phone was back in Marisa's pocket. "You must really have a strong influence among her little criminal gang."

"It's more than just a gang, ze. It's like a crime _empire_! Mima's the head of it all, and if something happens to her, I'm her successor, ze. Therefore, everybody answers to me just as much as they do to Mima da ze." That in itself meant that Marisa carried quite some gravitas in not just that particular crime group, but the whole of Tohohana's criminal underworld. Granted, outside this group, her influence was nothing next to Mima, who probably had over 90% of the town's criminals on her payroll, including the ones who answered to other people instead. The only ones Mima didn't control were leaders of other organizations. Indeed, if Mima were to get serious about her criminal exploits, no other force - be it criminal or police - would be able to stand up to her. It was a veritable army of the meanest sons of bitches in Tohohana, and her influence apparently spread all across Japan as well, given that Marisa was recently put in charge of a contraband operation that was based up _in Tokyo_.

Marisa admired her foster mother's influence. Someday, it'd be _her_ influence. For now, though, just working as Mima's right hand was good enough. The two had a common strength for selling their respective specialty wares, but Marisa's goods were pretty tame next to what Mima sold. The worst thing Marisa sold was probably crack or opium. She didn't do any of it, of course; just sold it. _Mima_ was a cunning merchant of black market weaponry, classified intelligence, and the crimelord's favorite of the bunch, other human beings. She was completely without morality; something even Marisa had at least a little of. "Well, I'd best head out for the day, ze," she said, getting up to her feet and grabbing her things. "Thanks for the notes."

"It's nothing. Thanks for not trying to sell me anything illegal."

"You're a good-girl type, even if you're kind of reclusive, ze. Selling to you would be a waste of my wares."

"Oh gee," Alice sarcastically said. Even if it was meant to be a compliment, Alice didn't like being told that she'd be a waste of Marisa's wares. "_Thanks._"

"Well, see ya tomorrow, ze."

* * *

**20 minutes later; Kirisame residence…**

"I'm back," Marisa said, stepping into her home.

"Welcome home," Mima said in response, standing at a table with one man on it, and four more holding down his limbs. "We were just about to start an interrogation, actually. Care to help?"

"Nah, I've got school stuff to do."

"That kind of thing is just a trifle; you could easily do it on the ride there tomorrow. This chance is only going to last for a few minutes." Police records labeled Mima as the city's most powerful criminal. As cunning as Osamu Houraisan, as ruthless as Remilia Scarlet, and above all else, _extremely_ manipulative. If a person had even a shred of immorality in their being, Mima could find the right way to persuade them to work with her. Those who lacked that immorality often had a weakness she could target instead. The man on the table - one of Tohohana's police officers - was among the latter. Next to the table was a box with a black cloth over it that kept emitting buzzing sounds. On top of it were two small vials of some kind of liquid. "Here's a little biology lesson," Mima said to the officer, popping open the first vial and pouring its contents over the man's face. "Did you know that bees communicate with pheromones?" Indeed, this man's weakness was an allergy to bees.

"Oh, boy," Marisa said under her breath. "It's the bees again." More than anything, Mima loved animal torture. That being torturing humans with animals, rather than vice versa. A select few of her underlings were specifically dedicated to training and selectively breeding animals to make them the most deadly sons of bitches Mother Nature could juice out. The bees Mima liked to use were genetically modified by a former scientist in the crime ring, and were venomous, territorial, and above all else, _very_ aggressive. There were also dogs in front of Mima's trailer that were trained to attack anybody that got too close unless they were accompanied by one of Mima's subordinates.

As soon as she knew that it was the bees again, Marisa looked away.

"_Some_ bees are more lethal than others. Take these for example," Mima continued, lifting the black cloth off the box, revealing a swarm of genetically evolved and enhanced bees buzzing inside a glass box. "These bees are venomous. One's sting can kill an untreated person in a day. If a whole swarm like this were to be let loose…instant death. Very quick. Extremely painful."

"Look," the officer protested, trying not to look at the bees, but instead at Mima whose hand was getting dangerously close to the box's door. "I told you already, I can't get into the evidence room! Only our best know the password, and I couldn't get it from them no matter what!"

"Is that so? I guess I'll need one of them, in that case. But, I do so hate loose ends…" Mima's hand placed itself on the door's handle, ready to release the swarm. "Last chance. I need you to get into that evidence room and get the evidence on my men out of there."

"…"

_Here it comes,_ Marisa warned herself, shutting her eyes and covering her ears. _I hate the damned bees!_ For one, she was allergic to bees. Even if she wasn't, Marisa couldn't stand the sounds of thousands of buzzing bees being deployed to kill a man, whose screams usually stuck with her the whole day. Sometimes Mima's favorite methods of persuasion left Marisa sleepless or with nightmares.

"I see. If that's how it is…" As though it were a perfectly normal action with no consequences at all, Mima opened up the glass box, unleashing the swarm. With an equal amount of apathy for consequences, Mima watched thousands of venomous bugs go straight for the officer's stomach, stinging him full of holes. Their buzzing and his screaming were the only sounds for a few moments, followed only by silence. Only when it was silent did Mima take the second vial and pour its contents in the box, causing the swarm to return to its home, shutting the box afterwards.

Then, looking right at Marisa, Mima said "Marisa. Take this body and feed him to the dogs."

"Sure thing." She tried not to look at him, though. Marisa knew that Mima _always_ sent the bees after a person's face, and by the time they were dead, they didn't look human anymore. Whatever flesh wasn't melted by venom was terribly swollen, she knew, and it took a pretty strong stomach to not get sick looking at the sight. "Anybody you have to interrogate tomorrow, ze?" As Marisa started dragging the corpse by its hand, Marisa eagerly awaited an answer.

"Actually, tomorrow we're going to bring you a step closer to being my true heir. Tomorrow's interrogation is on _you_."

"W-What? Care to repeat that, ze?"

"Tomorrow, _you'll_ be interrogating the assistant of the chief of police."

* * *

**To make up for my super-long start-of-chapter notes, I'm gonna try to make this one short.**

**First off, if I have to bump the rating up because of the bees, somebody please say so in their review. I'm not 100% on this, so until I'm told to up the rating, it's staying where it's at.**

**Secondly, people who know my way of thinking may already know who Marisa has to interrogate. Here's a hint. They've starred in only one of my works, and never appeared in a Tohohana story as of yet.**

**Lastly, I'm going to try and not add something in this story that was in the other two so far. If you know, you'll know. I imagine Azure knows, since he recently picked up a piece of info only two other people on the internet are aware of, myself included.**

**It's top secret, Azure. Cuz I'm just crazy.**


	3. Chapter 3: Urban Modern Princess

**Before anything, I'd like to talk about language for a bit.**

**It seems my German is quite off. I was going to ask my best friend for a translation, but he's busy with college stuff unlike myself, so it wasn't a viable option.**

***seppuku***

**That aside, I recently read a doujin entitled "No More Rice!"**

**On top of being pretty lulzy in itself, it had probably the single-funniest panel I've seen in a doujin. That panel consisted of a young Sanae Kochiya saying, and I quote word for translated word:  
"Dey's sum awesum fruitz growin' in Tow-Kyow!"**

**I about split a vital organ laughing so hard the first time I read that line, and my eyes happened to catch that it was the result of giving Sanae an accent native to Chiba Prefecture. For those who don't yet know this, Chiba happens to be the prefecture where Tohohana is located. So, do some of the characters in my stories (Reimu, Nue, Marisa, etc.) really sound like that?**

**I also learned, given the context of other panels in the flashback combined with the accent gag, that Chiba Prefecture is out in the country in Japan. By coincidence, I was actually hoping to get a country prefecture, so that I knew I wasn't too close to any big cities. I guess this is just Remilia at work again~**

**On some folks, like Yuka or Yamame, the accent may work, back to that topic. On others, like Mima, Yukari, Kogasa, and Suika, it doesn't seem right. Just…unreal, somehow.**

* * *

"You look tired," Alice commented, looking over a short way down the hallway at Marisa. Class was going to start pretty soon, but the crime heir looked about ready to collapse. "Something happen?"

"Just a pretty rough night, ze."

"Rough? You better not be trying to imply that Mima beats you."

"Whoa, nothing like that da ze! I've never seen her lay a hand on another human being!" Instead, she let vicious animals do all the work instead…thinking about those bees from yesterday kept Marisa up all night.

"I see. Why do you live with somebody like that, anyway? As far as Tohohana's concerned, that woman is evil incarnate."

"I…well, we're two of a kind," Marisa explained, grabbing the last of her things from one of the lockers along the hall. To clarify, it really _was_ hers. "There's over 7-billion humans on the planet, and our population keeps increasing at a slowly accelerating rate. Out of the whole lot of them, she's the only one who really understands me and would be willing to take me in." That was how Mima explained it eleven years ago; not long after Marisa started living with her.

"Two of a kind, huh? Somehow, I doubt that." With that, Alice started her way toward class. She didn't want to get there late; Keine was just as infamous for her headbutt as she was famous for her greatness as a teacher. Alice wasn't particularly tough, so something like that - a headbutt that was compared to being hit by a car (stated by students who experienced both) - wasn't something Alice was willing to risk. Furthermore, if she got seriously hurt and they had to call Shinki, the latter would probably be furious and do everything in her power to get Keine fired. As always, being Shinki's daughter was complicating things for Alice. And as always, she just wished she could be a normal person, even if only for a day.

* * *

**Later; lunch…**

"You can't be serious," Marisa exclaimed in shock at a revelation she'd come to during the newest chat with Alice. "You mean that for all these years, you've been in this school and _never_ joined a club!?"

"Never. And you?"

"Captain of the occult club for three whole years da ze," Marisa boasted, even though that was probably the club that was most often looked down upon. And one of the smallest. "We've got something going on tomorrow, actually. Care to join?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Alice had gone all this time with no clubs and few friends. She could hang in there for this last school year. Besides, if she were to join a club, it would be one relating to crafting things, since she loved to make dolls so much. Strangely, she'd never heard of such a club in this school. As she started unpacking the lunch Yumeko had made for her this morning (one of the few things she was fine with maids doing for her) Alice stated "My biggest concerns are for my grades, so that I can get into a nice university far away from here…maybe in Hokkaido."

"Hokkaido's a long way out from here." Alice's lunch seemed to be a sandwich with generally normal things in it. Nothing extravagant, nothing overly pricey. Accompanying that sandwich were crackers, and to dip them in to add more flavor…honey. The honey brought those bees from yesterday back to Marisa's mind, and she shuddered a little bit remembering what that man's face looked like when Mima was through with him.

"Is my honey disturbing you?"

"Not really, ze. Just thinking about yesterday is all…"

After taking a bite of her sandwich and swallowing, Alice said "Let me just say this, Marisa. Not as a friend or anything like that, since I'm not sure if we qualify as friends just yet, but you've seriously got issues. If honey reminds you of something that happened - something that kept you up last night judging by the bags under your eyes - then either you need a shrink, or Mima isn't even human." Or maybe both. Whatever may have happened yesterday, Alice assumed Mima was the one behind it. She was the city's most powerful criminal, and even a girl like her - who never looked into what criminals were up to - caught rumors of the kinds of cruelty that woman was capable and fond of. "Mind confessing to what was so scary?"

"Nope~"

"Fine. Be that way." A few tables over, near the window, there was one student. Sitting all by herself, with what looked like a sketchpad and a pencil. If Alice had her names and faces right, that one was Fujiwara no Mokou. Marisa seemed to know a lot about the other students in their class, so maybe she knew what her story was. "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"For starters, swallow your damn food before speaking. That's just common manners. Secondly, what's her story?" To clarify whose story she wanted to know, Alice pointed behind Marisa, over to Mokou.

"Hm?" Turning around, Marisa saw who Alice was pointing at. "Oh, that's Fujiwara no Mokou da ze. The daughter of a moderately demented detective and - formerly - one of the city's best doctors. Her mom died when Mokou was still a baby, in a flood when their water line exploded, ze."

"Mima?"

"No, ze. Yakuza. Her old man had evidence in his house that could incriminate the leader of that yakuza, so they flooded the house in an attempt to kill him. But they messed up, and killed the wrong parent. I met her when we were seven da ze."

"A new story now?"

"You bet. Her, me, the Hoshiguma kid in our grade, and that Houjuu girl a grade below us. We were a quartet da ze." Nature's Little Delinquents, they called themselves. Those were good times. Marisa was just learning what it really meant to live a life of crime, and was stealing for her friends as well as for Mima. Yuugi roughed up anybody who didn't like the way they did things, and could kick a steel door in if she put all her muscle in it. Mokou _was_ great with blackmail and extortion, and set on fire to vent stress when she was little. Nue was the class hamster; the rest of the crew just took care of her because they thought she was cute. "I miss those days sometimes…"

"You're getting all sentimental," Alice said, dipping the first of her crackers into the honey Yumeko had given her this morning. "It's not like you."

"Sure thing, ze. Two years ago, Mokou dropped out of the group to try and be like her old man. She used to tell me when we were little how she wanted to be a manga artist when she grew up, ze. Judging by the sketchpad she's got over there, she still wants to do that, too." Why did Alice want to know, anyway? Had Mokou said something to her that was bugging her? Or maybe she was back in the blackmail/extortion business! If that were the case, Marisa would be sure to get her working under Mima. That ring of criminals always did well with higher income. "Why's it so important, ze?"

"No reason. Any idea why she's sitting all by herself?"

"Oh…that. Mokou doesn't really have any friends other than Miss K, da ze. Even when she was with me and the others, we were more like co-workers than friends to her, ze. My guess on that is that since she lost her mom early, she doesn't like to trust other people, ze."

"Yeah, that makes sense. I see her fighting with our other classmates a lot. Must be tough, living like that." With only one friend to really call a friend. Even if Alice seemed reclusive herself, she was pretty capable of holding friendships. "Hey, you're spacing out."

"Huh?"

"I said you're spacing out. That's pretty unlike you. Something up?"

"Actually…" Was it alright to say? That she had to interrogate somebody for the first time in her life, probably using some of Mima's animals as the tools of persuasion? For the first time in the eleven years that Marisa had lived with and worked for Mima, she was reluctant. Only a little, but it showed if somebody could recognize the signs. "…it's nothing, ze."

"Fine. Be that way. Not like I care or anything."

"Then why even ask~?"

"Because I hate awkward silences."

* * *

**An hour(?) later; Class 12-A…**

"Any questions?" The first project of the school year had been handed out. Keine explained how it worked, and that - as was the standard fare for her projects - students would be paired up to work on it. For the sake of trying to smooth out classroom relationships, and also because she wanted to see what happened, Keine generally paired up students who weren't so fond of each other.

"I have a question," Alice answered, raising her hand. "Do I _have_ to be Marisa's partner?" It wasn't really that she didn't want to be Marisa's partner so much as her preference to work alone shining bright today. That was something she could thank Switzerland for, since lots of people tried not to hang around Alice when she was young. They called her weird because of her obsession with dolls. One time not long before Shinki adopted her, she finally snapped and tried killing everybody with voodoo rituals. Needless to say, it didn't work at all, but she was pretty sure she gave somebody a pretty nasty stomachache because of it, and remained so to this day.

"She's your partner. That's final."

"Fine." Setting her hand back onto her desk, Alice muttered "I don't even _want_ a partner, much less _Marisa_. I'll probably just get handed all the work so she can sell drugs and whatever else she does."

Sure enough, turning her head to Alice at that remark was none other than Marisa herself. "You say something, ze?"

"Nothing."

"Ok. Just making sure da ze."

* * *

**Later on; Margatroid Residence…**

"I'm home," Alice called out as she took her first steps into her mother's considerable estate. It was situated in the north-eastern corner of Tohohana, in a neighborhood that was pretty much exclusively mansions for the richer folks in town. It was where the elites of local society lived, and even though she didn't play a big hand in the city's economy, Shinki was certainly among those elite. However, even though Shinki had more wealth than just about anybody in town…

"I'm over here~" Happily springing up to her feet, Shinki grabbed a mysterious object from the table next to her and made her merry way over to Alice, holding out the item. "Say, do you know what this is, Alice?"

"…not a clue." Even its shape was odd…however one could define it. It was like an abstract even by abstract standards, about the size of Alice's head and solid red in color. Even though Shinki had one of the greatest fortunes in Tohohana, she spent it on the oddest things. Abstract items like this were on display in the woman's room literally by the dozens. Alice had her dolls, and Shinki had abstract items that nobody knew what they were. "How much did this one cost?"

"Fifty-thousand yen~"

"You know, even though we've got a seemingly bottomless fortune, you're going to end up splurging it all on these things one of these days. Please try to be a _normal_ billionaire, okay?"

"But _normal_ is so boring~!" Happily making her cuckoolander way up the steps with those words of wisdom(?) while carrying her newest abstract item, Shinki kept her eyes peeled for the mansion's one and only maid. Surely busy at work as always, that one.

"…" This was another reason Alice wasn't a big fan of being Shinki's daughter. The oddest things wound up in that mansion, and whenever Shinki hosted a party - generally twice a month, since she got bored easily - all of those things went on display like they were one-of-a-kind trophies. They were certainly one-of-a-kind, but why did the person owning them also have to be so abstract? Origins that not even Alice was certain of, an equally vague wealth that was on par with European royalty, and one maid to tend to the entire mansion. There was also an incident where Shinki bought a truck for the sole purpose of dropping a steamroller on it after her last party. After that, Alice made certain to inform the Houraisan family that their daughter was to no longer allowed share her interests with Shinki, both for the sake of the sole maid - Yumeko - who had to tow away a crushed truck, and for Alice, who couldn't bear the embarrassment these kinds of actions made her feel.

_Think happy thoughts_, Alice reminded herself, making her way up to her own room. _Think about the three things I love most in life! Dolls, chocolate, and horror stories where the favorite character dies! …is that last one even normal? Oh, no! My mother is finally rubbing off on me!_

* * *

**I hope everybody enjoyed my Dio Brando reference~**

**Were money not an object, I'd certainly drop steamrollers on stuff ^_^ it just sounds like fun.**

**That aside, I want Alice to be a generally normal girl in town, but with a few odd quirks thanks to living with Shinki all this time. Her fondness for horror stories where the favorite dies is probably the least of her quirks that I can think up while this story progresses, but since I want her to be normal, it's very hard to give her any good development =.=**

**Welp, I'm kind of tired as I type this note, so I'll end this one with a bit of trivia about this fic.**

**Did you know that this is the only fic I write that stars Marisa OR Alice? I generally try to avoid popular pairings so as to let the more-unknown ones gain popularity when I write them (does that sound pretentious at all?) but I took two characters that I never made main characters in my works before, and threw them together in the pairing that's probably the mascot of Touhou's pairing potential.**

**Despite everything, this appears to have been one of my finer ideas ;)**


	4. Chapter 4: No Answers

**It's a Tohohana update, at long last.**

**If you haven't read this fic in a while, I suggest you read the previous chapter so that you can remember what was going on. Otherwise, you may be a little lost by the end. That's okay, I was too ^_^;**

**Typically, when I take a big break, I try to have at least two updates ready for when I return. This is such a case, and I'm now returning from a one-week break. Why did I take this one?**

**Crappy wi-fi problems at McDonald's. No, really. I walk twenty minutes in the hot Texas sun, buy a drink for $1.08 - money which I could have spent somewhere else for a snack - and what do I get in return? Wi-fi don't work. It happened last Monday and Wednesday, so now I'm back THIS Wednesday to return.**

**So yeah, I'm back :D hope I wasn't too missed**

* * *

_KNOCK, KNOCK!_

"It's rare we have unannounced visitors," the one and only maid of Shinki's family - Yumeko - told herself as she made her way to answer the door. "If it's another door-to-door preacher, I swear I'll kill him," she added under her breath. Probably somewhat morbid for a maid, Yumeko had a natural proficiency for any weapon she laid her hands on, but had a particular fondness for swords. More than once, a robber had met the maid when nobody was assumed to be home, and never met another human afterwards.

However, when Yumeko opened the door, she found not an envoy of religion, but instead Marisa Kirisame. "Yo."

"I presume you're here looking for Lady Alice?"

"Oh-ho, _LADY_ Alice? Guess those rumors about her mom are true, da ze."

"I know nothing of the sort," Yumeko answered almost instantly. "Either way, Alice isn't here. She and her mother have gone to old town for some sightseeing." All year round, old town was the most beautiful part of town, and its architecture that stood through thick and thin for 1,300 years with minimal-to-no modernization was Tohohana's greatest tourist attraction. People who studied religion often came to ask the family that tended to the Hakurei Shrine what deity it was built in reverence to, but nobody - including the Hakurei family themselves - was 100% sure of that themselves. The most common guess was Ama-no-Iwato-Wake-no-Mikoto, but supposedly the secret died with the person who built the shrine 1,300 years ago. Despite this, it still served as a shrine, but also a home for the newest generation of the Hakurei family in old town, since they found themselves in a massive financial chokehold about 18 years ago.

"Old town, huh? In the fall?" Marisa heard that it was nice all-year-round, but that the best seasons to see it were spring and winter. No matter. At about this time, there wouldn't be much to see other than the buildings. Not that the buildings themselves weren't pleasing to look at or anything. "Alright, thanks a lot, Yumeko. I'll have one of my friends give me a lift." By _friends_, Marisa really meant the criminals working under Mima. They'd get her to old town _and_ find Alice in no time flat. Indeed, there were perks to being the heir of Mima's crime empire.

* * *

**5 minutes later; Tohohana's old town…**

"I thought we came here for sightseeing," Alice said with the slightest hint of venom in her voice. "So far, all we've seen is this run-down shrine. And we've been standing here for at least ten minutes. Are we waiting for something?"

"Oh, did I say sightseeing? My mistake~" That may or may not have been a lie on the crimson aristocrat's part. Her _real_ purpose here was to see the family living in this shrine. More than anything, Shinki was a woman who appreciated aesthetics, and hearing that the shrine was run-down - and now seeing it herself - wasn't very pleasing to such a person. "Don't you worry. I'm just making a generous donation to this shrine so they can fix it up, and then we'll see all the sights that can be seen. And maybe even a few that can't!"

"Can I just go ahead of you?"

"That isn't a very nice way to treat your mother," Shinki pouted. "We're only going to be here for a little longer."

"Can I help you?" Sure enough, just as Shinki predicted, a girl clad in the outfit of an honorary miko stepped out of the shrine. "If you're just here to be here, we have a rule against that at the Hakurei Shrine." Before that rule was implemented, there were too many troublemakers showing up at the shrine and using it as a hangout. The current miko - Reimu - got endless headaches from it.

"I would like to make a donation to your shrine~"

"W-What? Well, you should have said so earlier!" Suddenly looking cheerful as can be, Reimu led the way into the shrine. "It's kind of run-down in here, and it gets pretty drafty in the fall, so you'll have to forgive its crappy condition. It still functions as a shrine, but doesn't do so well as a home."

"I see. I wanted to donate about exactly that. I plan to donate 1-million yen to your shrine for repairs and maintenance."

"M-M…_Million_…" Reimu froze. All she could do was stand there, mouth gaping open and repeating the same stammered and repeated word.

"You broke her," Alice said. "I'll be outside; it feels real stuffy in here." That was a lie on Alice's part. She just didn't want to be here at this strange scene. And as though fate was planning to mess with her today, waiting right outside was another blonde-haired girl. One with a braid down one side of her face, looking dead at Alice with her usual confident grin. Marisa.

"Hey there, ze. The maid sent me this way."

"Yumeko told you to come over here?"

"Well, she didn't say to come here specifically. Just that you were here, ze. I have to ask you something…it's important, ze." It was. An interrogation was going to be soon, and as Mima had promised, it was Marisa that would be in charge of it. She seemed plenty confident over the years, but now that it was time to step up to the plate for real, Marisa was starting to look as though she was having second thoughts.

"Something important, eh? Let's hear it."

"Let's say…I know somebody, and-"

"None of that bullcrap. I know you're asking about you."

"I am, hear me out da ze! Somebody I know is up for interrogation today. We've known each other since we started Tohohana High; we met in the occult club then noticed each other in class." The two were in different classes now, though. Marisa in 12-A, and her friend next door in 12-B. Otherwise, Alice would have probably known who Marisa was talking about. "If I didn't know it was her, I'd be okay, but in either case, I'm supposed to head this instead of Mima. Should I go through with it?"

"Of course not," Alice answered with no hesitation or second thought. "Wait…was this the thing you didn't confess about at lunch?"

"Wow, you're sharp! Glad I'm sitting next to _you_ in class, ze."

"Look, Mima is evil. I know you have trouble with that, but it's the truth. I hear talk about her at some parties in the mansion, and I've heard numerous times that if they could get any evidence on her - any at all - the woman would be behind bars for life…_if_ she was lucky." Of course, Mima was lucky. That went without saying. The only thing keeping her from incrimination - like two other crime bosses in town - was a lack of evidence. The only difference was that in Mima's case, everybody knew perfectly well she was guilty. One piece of evidence, and it would be over. It bugged Alice in the back of her head that Marisa was living with somebody like that.

"So don't go through with it?"

"No way. If you'll excuse me being so blunt, I think the very best thing you could do is just leave her."

"!" Marisa's smile was gone. It looked like some kind of switch in her had been flipped, given the newfound glare in her eyes and the shaking of a fist. For a few moments, there was silence and tension in the air. Did Alice really have the nerve to suggest something like that? Did she even know what she was talking about? Her and Mima were two of a kind; the great green-haired crimelord made a point of letting Marisa never forget that! "That's the person who raised me, you know," Marisa bitterly said. "How would you feel if I said you should just up and ditch Shinki? That she was nuttier than a squirrel?"

"Even if she isn't the textbook definition of normal, that's none of your business!"

"Tch. Guess I came out here for nothing, after all. I'm going home now."

* * *

**Later; "Kirisame" residence…**

_CREAAK_. "I'm home," Marisa said. "Hope I'm not late or anything, ze."

"Not a second too soon," Mima answered, standing next to a chair. Sitting on that chair was a person. Female for certain, given the abundance of chest, and looking to be about Marisa's age. A black skull shirt and numerous skeleton-themed accessories could tell a person who knew her exactly which person was sitting in that chair. The assistant to the chief of police, but also the current captain of Tohohana High's occult club and a part-time worker at the local morgue. Class 12-B, Komachi Onozuka. Judging by her muffled screams, Mima had gagged her to keep her quiet, and the whole thing really looked more like Marisa walked in on a bondage session moments before it was going to get _really_ started. It was far from the case, but that was the best analogy Marisa could think of. She tried not to look directly at Komachi.

_MMMM!_

"Hi, Komachi." Stepping up to the now-silent redhead, Marisa started with a helping of honesty. "I don't want you here, and I doubt you want to be here either. Just…work with us, and everything will be fine, okay?" Komachi looked kind of scared. It was unlike her, but perfectly understandable. Getting captured by criminals then learning that somebody you'd known for three years was one of them? Sounded scary enough. "I'm going to un-gag you now, okay? Just promise you won't scream." Komachi nodded again. As Marisa started undoing the knot on the back of Komachi's head, she couldn't help but ask "What did you do that we've got you in here, anyway?"

When the gag came off, after a couple of deep breaths, Komachi finally had the chance to speak. "Look, I don't know what you people want, but I'm sure I don't have it."

"In your police station's evidence room, there is something that could incriminate me if given time to sit," Mima answered, given Marisa's lack of knowledge as to what this was about, same as Komachi. "To access this evidence room, one must input a four-digit numerical code, followed by a seven-letter password."

"We need those," Marisa finished, understanding what was going on. Mima's luck had finally run out, and she was about to use brute force to get it back. "Please, just cooperate with us and I promise, I'll make sure nobody gets hurt."

"…I-I don't know," Komachi said. "I really don't."

"You're the police chief's assistant. You have to know this, right?"

"I'm just the _chief's_ assistant on paper. Eiki is the chief of police _and_ the judge. I work in the courtroom; not the station. Since I'm not affiliated with the police in any way, Eiki refused to give me the code or the password."

"Komachi, just cooperate," Marisa whispered, knowing where this one was going. "Make something up if you have to."

"I swear, I have no idea what it is. I can find out, though! J-Just let me go, and-"

"So you can go crying to the _chief of police?_ No thank you," Mima replied. "Then everybody will know that evidence belongs to me, and it's off to a maximum security facility until the day I die."

"I-I'll try to get your sentence shortened! W-What, maybe…f-fifty years? Thirty?" Panic was setting in. There was a saying in Tohohana, and people often didn't understand what it meant until it was too late. When green gets going, everything stops. Mima's green eyes and hair, plus the large variety of green objects in her trailer, made the meaning clear. When Mima makes a decision, nothing can stop her. If she decided to have Komachi dead, it'd be game over, the redhead feared. "…T-Ten?"

"Don't be ridiculous. If I dispersed my possible sentence around town, _everybody_ would be locked up for at least that long." Looking back to the crime heir, Mima said "Marisa, this is your interrogation. Get the information. If you can't…you know what to do."

"…y-yes. Understood." When Marisa confirmed her understanding, Mima stepped out. Probably to deal with something else. That meant she could direct all her attention to Komachi. "We really need that code and password. Or at least an internet password so we can get a hacker in there. Just _something_."

"I don't have anything," Komachi said. "Please, get me out of here."

"Even if I wanted to…I can't. I have to get this interrogation done with. This is your last chance, Komachi. Are you _sure_ you have nothing at all we can work with?"

"…I'm certain," Komachi said, swallowing hard, nodding, and shutting her eyes tight. Now she was probably a loose end. Criminals didn't allow loose ends. Hopefully, Marisa wasn't like the rest of them. "Do what you have to."

"…K…" _I can say this. Just two small words, right?_ "K-K…" Marisa was shaking. She couldn't get herself to say the words that would undoubtedly finish this. How could she? She'd known Komachi for three years. She wasn't about to tell these people to-

"Kill her," Mima said, stepping into the door. "Now."

"Wait!" Marisa jumped up to her feet, turning around to face Mima. "S-She gave me a password!"

"Oh? Do share…"

* * *

**No crazy behind-the-screen craziness like in DeathNote or other shows. No trickery. What you read was what you got, okay?**

**The Gensokyo version of Marisa follows Mima to the death and doesn't regret it for a second. This one does the same, but I wanted to have more of a conscience in Tohohana's Marisa, so that she had trouble doing BIG crime things like this interrogation. It's no fun if the two versions of Marisa are the same, you know?**

**There are some pieces of this story pre-prepared, including one full chapter for much much later in this story, but hopefully it will be a very long time before I bust out the latter. So, happy to see me writing again? Me too.**

**Don't forget to leave friendly reviews and share your thoughts ^_~**


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